T-Mobile introduced a bunch of new plans, rolled out LTE in a few cities, will be carrying the iPhone, calls itself an “uncarrier”, and its CEO says other companies should “cut the bullshit”. Here’s my take on all of that.
To understand what you’re buying from a mobile carrier, you need to know the standard they use, the frequencies they license, and the towers they own.
In the US, our carriers use two standards, GSM and CDMA. GSM is the world standard, CDMA is used in the US and a few other countries. In a few years everyone will be running LTE, but in today’s environment, the carriers who offer LTE will have you fall back to their older standard (either GSM or CDMA), so, generally speaking, when you choose a carrier and buy a phone on that carrier, you’re locking into one of the two major standards (the exception to this rule are so-called “world phones” that operate on GSM and CDMA). T-Mobile and AT&T are the big GSM carriers in the US. Sprint and Verizon run CDMA.
All mobile carriers license different frequencies from the government, and they transmit their GSM, CDMA and LTE standard signals on that frequency. There’s a dizzying array of standards and sub-standards operating on different frequencies in the US. In practice, this means two things to the mobile phone buyer. First, lower frequencies are generally able to penetrate farther into buildings, and, second, not all phones running the a standard like GSM can communicate on all the frequencies that the carriers use. T-Mobile and Sprint operate at higher frequencies, AT&T and Verizon at lower frequencies. For T-Mobile, it was often hard to find phones that would work on its network, since few international operators used T-Mobile’s high frequencies.
As for towers, more towers in more areas means more coverage. Verizon and AT&T are the two carriers who attempt to have nationwide networks with coverage in as many places as possible. T-Mobile and Sprint have fewer towers, so they’ve typically had their customers “roam” on AT&T (for T-Mobile) or Verizon (for Sprint).
So, if you’ve read this far without passing out in boredom, the outlines of the US mobile market used to be pretty set in stone. Sprint and T-Mobile sold cheaper plans on inferior networks, Verizon and AT&T used their better networks to sell you a more expensive plan.
The seeds for change in this market were planted in 2011, when AT&T decided to buy T-Mobile. If AT&T could cement their monopoly in the phone business by bribing Congress to look the other way, which is usually a safe bet, they could fuck their customers even harder, if that’s imaginable. Unfortunately for AT&T, and fortunately for the rest of us, even the weak US regulatory system couldn’t stomach such an obvious monopoly, and AT&T had to withdraw its bid for T-Mobile.
T-Mobile, which knew that the buyout was a chancy thing, put a huge breakup penalty in the pre-merger agreement, so they got $4 billion in cash, and just as important (if not more), some frequency and some roaming from AT&T. After the breakup, T-Mobile took their cash and bought MetroPCS, a smaller, regional carrier that also had a bunch of spectrum and a working LTE network.
Before the AT&T fiasco, it was hard to see how T-Mobile was going to be competitive. They didn’t have enough towers in enough markets, and technical issues around the frequencies they licensed made it difficult to see how they’d do LTE. Today, T-Mobile is certainly no AT&T or Verizon in terms of spectrum, towers or customers, but, thanks to AT&T and the MetroPCS acquisition, they can build a nationwide LTE network, and, thanks again to AT&T, they can roam on AT&T, guaranteed, for a few years. By the standards of the dinosaurs in the uncompetitive telco world, an asteroid just hit, because there’s (possibly) another A-game player on the block.
Realistically, it’s going to take a couple of years for T-Mobile to build out its LTE network*, fully incorporate MetroPCS customers and towers, and perhaps, Bieber willing, build a few more towers of its own. In the meantime, it’s got to do what it has always done, which is to try to be cheap enough to attract customers to what is, objectively, an inferior network.
So what is cheap? We know that carriers have a prepaid and postpaid, or contract, pricing model. The prepaid model is pay-as-you-go, and you paid full price for a cell phone. Generally the carriers would offer you a fairly old, cheap phone for a low price on their prepaid plan. On the contract plan, you’d commit to 2 years or more of service with a hefty early termination fee, and you’d buy a phone at a discount. What the carriers didn’t tell you is that for the life of the contract, you were essentially paying off the price of that phone at an installment rate.
T-Mobile’s change to all that, and it frankly isn’t that earth-shattering, is to unbundle the phone from the plan. Their top-of-the line unlimited plan is $70/month, cancel anytime, for unlimited text, data and talk. If you want a phone, they’ll sell you, for example, an iPhone 5 for $99 up front and $20/month for two years. If you cancel, you’ll need to pay off the phone.
On a pure price comparison, T-Mobile is now slightly cheaper than the bigger carriers if you want to carry an iPhone 5. And note that any old iPhone 5 won’t do: if you want T-Mobile’s LTE, you’ll need the iPhone 5 that works on its frequencies. The AT&T iPhone 5, and older iPhone models, have some frequency limitations that mean that you won’t be able to get the fastest 4G/LTE (or in the case of the older iPhones, 3G) service on T-Mobile in certain markets.
To me, this week’s announcement is interesting for a couple of reasons, and their new marquee pricing plan is the least of them. T-Mobile is a huge player in prepaid cell plans, selling under their own name and under a number of other brands (StraightTalk, Solavei, etc). For example, T-Mobile itself will sell you a prepaid SIM (the card you stick in a GSM phone to get mobile service) that will get unlimited texting, 5 GB of data, and 100 minutes of voice for $30/month. With extra talk minutes priced at 10 cents/minute, this is a steal even if you go over the 100 minute limit by a small amount. The issue with T-Mobile prepaid was always the network: you couldn’t roam and even T-Mobile areas are spotty. From what I can tell, the AT&T roaming agreements now cover prepaid for voice and 2G data, and if they are really building out their network, a prepaid $30 plan with a Nexus 4, which is a top-of-the-line smartphone for $300, is an incredible bargain.**
T-Mobile has always been a carrier that makes sense only if you live in an area with good T-Mobile service, which is mainly urban areas, and mainly near the coast. Their “uncarrier” pricing and plan really just replicates what could always be had with a prepaid plan and some work to find the right phone. What’s different in this week’s announcement is that you don’t have to dick around for hours to figure out how to buy a phone separate from the plan. That’s going to be a win for consumers if T-Mobile attracts enough customers to make Verizon and AT&T change their ways. I’m not holding my breath, but any change that could break big blue and big red’s stranglehold on the market is a good thing.
—
* Because they knew they’d have problems upgrading to LTE, T-Mobile built out their current 4G network with better tech than AT&T and Verizon, HSPA+ 42. This is almost as fast as LTE if you’re in a market that supports it. The important point here is that the iPhone 5 on T-Mobile can use HSPA+ 42, which means you’ll get pretty fast service even if you aren’t in one of T-Mobiles 7 LTE markets.
** I would not be surprised to see a Nexus phone built by Motorola, able to use T-Mobile’s LTE network (the Nexus 4 is 4G only) and be roughly as cheap as the Nexus 4, this Fall.
sharl
Haha, that should get some well deserved attention/mockery from Fake Jeff Jarvis.
dmsilev
I have a dumbphone on T-Mobile’s prepaid plan, and for the minimal amount of use that I need from the thing (basically a keep-in-touch device when I’m traveling), it’s great. Costs all of $10 or $20 a year plus the one-time cost for the phone itself a few years back.
imonlylurking
Glad to hear this. I’ve been a pre-paid T-Mobile customer for ages-I never use all of the minutes that a monthly plan allows. My phone is a dinosaur but it makes phone calls. I’ve been thinking about upgrading to a smart phone-I’ll have to check out what T-Mobile is doing in that respect.
the Conster
I need the shorter – I have an iPhone 4S with AT&T in the Boston area, have the cheapest AT&T plan I can get which isn’t cheap, and every month over 400 rollover minutes roll over and I text maybe a dozen times. Can I use this service?
Southern Beale
Speaking of bullshit (this is OT), but what the fuck is this about?
The Passive Voice Gun Dodge.
Why does the media do this?
Walker
Even Verizon and AT&T coverage is spotty where I live (I constantly had my phone out while house shopping to check coverage). T-Mobile is a no go.
Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal mistermix
@the Conster: If you are past your contract period, you can have AT&T unlock your phone, and then it can be used on T-Mobile. If you aren’t past your contract date, you’ll pay an early termination fee which will probably make it pointless, financially, to move to T-Mobile.
The issue with the 4S is whether it can use 3G on T-Mobile. The answer depends on whether Boston has been “refarmed”, that is, whether T-Mobile has moved its 3G service to spectrum that the iPhone 4S can use. Boston is one of the cities where T-Mobile has announced it will refarm, but according to this post in their customer service forum, refarming is not complete:
http://support.t-mobile.com/thread/37234
(check out the first reply)
It won’t hurt to go to a corporate T-Mobile store and ask.
third of two
I bought my first smartphone this year (because all the kool kidz have one) and turns out to be huge overkill. Still have my old dumbphone and am seriously considering switching back. Current plan is AT&T’s Gophone @ $65/mo; my ass is sore and bleeding. Checked the t-mobile link and my particular brand of smartphone isn’t listed as a compatible device.
arguingwithsignposts
Where’s the tl;dr?
Hoodie
I have an early-gen unlocked smartphone that I run on T-mobile pay as you go. I buy 100 bucks worth of service every 6 mos or so, use the per minute rate. The phone cost me about 200 bucks four years ago, has GPS, a decent camera and and can play media pretty much like an Ipod. Normally, i don’t use data, just wait until I have wifi to check email and crap like that. When I go on trips and want to be able to get email, download maps, etc., I switch to daily rate with data, costs 3 bucks a day. When I get home, I switch back. I plan to buy the new Google phone when it comes out and use it this way. Unless you’re a power user who is on the road a lot and needs to constantly be using email or other data apps, the carrier plans are just a way of inducing you to use services you don’t really need. The amount of time people spend futzing around with their smartphones is mind-boggling. Ten years ago, they didn’t exist, now some folks’ lives are totally mediated through them. I hope this T-mobile idea catches on simply because it might get people to realize how much time they waste on their phones.
mai naem
I have the prepaid one for my work phone. It’s a good deal. The only thing I wish is that Tmobile had a cheap android slider. The only android slider they have is $400. Meanwhile ATT has an android slider for $150. I am just not willing to go over $200 for a smart phone because I’m too rough on my phones and it seems like they break even if you aren’t rough on them.
Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal mistermix
@arguingwithsignposts: tl;dr Check your coverage carefully if you’re thinking about T-Mobile, if the coverage is good, bring your own device (make sure it works on T-Mob spectrum first) and get a prepaid plan.
@mai naem: Get an Otter Box. All the kids around here have them and the top of the line one makes your phone virtually indestructible.
Omnes Omnibus
@Hoodie:
Reworded slightly. Technology changes things. You can either accept it or tie an onion to your belt.
Tone in DC
Already have T-Mobile. I like their service just fine, and my Samsung android/non-iPhone/battery killer works okay.
A few years ago, I would have been less sanguine about the company (dropped calls, higher rates, slow OS).
the Conster
@Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal mistermix:
Well, that’s interesting, and thanks. I think I’ll wait to see how their refarming goes, because in my little town 20 miles west of Boston it’s a struggle to get AT&T’s 4G.
NonyNony
@Omnes Omnibus:
Can I accept it AND tie an onion to my belt?
different-church-lady
Thanks, MM, this has been helpful in a huge way.
First observation is that from the way you’ve described it, T-Mobile isn’t really going to be all that much cheaper, but they are going to be much more transparent about what you’re paying for.
The big revelation for me is that I did not know phones were tied to specific frequencies. (Is this also true of the data segment, or just the voice?)
Third, you’ve helped me in a practical way: I’ve been trying to figure out how to get off the dumb phone, as I’m one of the few people in the world who actually needs mobile computing for something other than answering trivia questions or throwing birds at pigs. But I was having a hard time figuring out the smartphone/tablet decision — the phone screen was too small for a lot of what I’d do with it, but the tablet doesn’t do phonecalls, and I don’t like the idea of having to carry both.
Now that I know that even a jail-broken phone isn’t totally mobile from carrier to carrier, I think I’ll stick with the dumb phone and do a cheapie data plan on a tablet.
The only hitch is trying to figure out if I can do my texting on the tablet in a way that doesn’t involve giving my clients an address that’s different from my phone number. It’s kinda crazy, but the “one text at a time” model is a communications gap between 20th century me and my 21st century clients and friends — they see the entire conversation unfolding on one screen, but I only see the individual chunks. Half the time I can’t figure out what the hell they’re talking about because they send me three sentences in three rapid fire texts. (This is a first-world problem that has actual implications for my income, so I feel pretty conflicted about even discussing it like it’s a real “problem”…)
Omnes Omnibus
@NonyNony: Only if you promise to shout at passing clouds.
different-church-lady
@Omnes Omnibus:
Will the onion work in all major urban areas? Because if it does, I’m so for it.
jake the snake
I have a dumbphone on T-Mobile. My experience is that their
phones are more expensive, but the rates are a little lower than AT&T, etc. I have not had coverage issues, but I don’t
travel to the boonies much.
Omnes Omnibus
@different-church-lady: I think it varies. You should check with your carrier.
Hoodie
@Omnes Omnibus: Typical nitwit techie nonsense. Do you need to be staring at your phone every time you get on an elevator? I’m not arguing for Luddism. Smartphones are great, I have one, plan to get another. It’s just that they’re use has become obsessive. They’re being pushed like junk food.
different-church-lady
@Omnes Omnibus: It’s tied to my belt — I’m the carrier.
chopper
not quite. first, carriers share frequencies all over the place. Verizon and AT&T use the same bands for voice and 3G, 850/1900 IIRC, tho one is CDMA and the other GSM. Sprint uses basically the same low band for voice and uses 1900 for 3G as well. T-Mobile and MetroPCS use the 1900MHz band too, but a also a lower and upper band as well. so that 1900 band is basically used by everyone for 3G, and it’s pretty chock-full. better for CDMA, as it’s a code-based access scheme, so all number of channels can overlap between different carriers in the same band.
LTE bands for some carriers are the same they already use, and for some they add another, higher frequency band.
‘building penetration’ isn’t merely a function of frequency, though lower frequencies really shine in propagating through open air. while higher frequencies are subject to more reflection and attenuation, CDMA-based systems are better at making up for those issues, and beam-based systems and steerable arrays make a great difference as well.
different-church-lady
@Hoodie:
The good news is that apparently smartphones have become so compelling that people now stand at the curb too entirely transfixed by them to actually cross the street, instead of stumbling into the path of my car while only semi-transfixed.
maurinsky
I feel paralyzed by the many choices available in the cell phone market. I have a stupid phone, as does my daughter. I would like to get something smart, but I really can’t afford to have 2 smartphones on any of the available plans. And the stupid phones have gone downhill in quality since there are now only a small selection of options.
I’ve been on Sprint forever, but I am not averse to trying someone different, especially someone who isn’t AT&T.
Omnes Omnibus
@Hoodie: Well, that comment read like mother sounds, and she is a Luddite.
Crusty Dem
@different-church-lady:
Google voice, $20 one time charge for unlimited texting over data. And the $20 is to link to your cell phone #, if you get a new number it’s free…
different-church-lady
@Crusty Dem: You rock. I’ll check it out.
Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal mistermix
@chopper: It’s always hard to figure out what to leave in and take out. You’re right that Sprint uses 800 MHz, they suck because they don’t build enough towers.
T-Mobile runs on 1700/2100 and 1900 so they have the biggest issue with propagation. Like Sprint, they don’t have enough towers. All the antenna tech in the world isn’t going to fix that.
@different-church-lady: Depending on your budget, another alternative is a cheap smart phone and wifi tethering to your tablet. Run the numbers, because data plans for tablets are expensive, so you may be able to swing a Nexus 4 (really, this is the bargain of the current time, an A-grade smartphone for $300), a single data, voice and text plan, and a cheap tablet (Nexus 7 is the current deal at $200 IMO, but about due for a refresh). T-Mobile’s new plans include tethering for free so the issue is total data usage between the smart phone and the tablet when you’re tethering.
As was mentioned above, Google Voice is another option, you port your # to Google Voice and then forward it from there.
Higgs Boson's Mate
Stuck in the past, hand me down my onion. Smart phones are just gadgets for me because I still use paper maps, I’m not Socia1, and my gaming is RPG and strat sims.
OTOH, my hobby is 3D modelling. I build my own PC’s and I built a 4 box (2U form factor, rack mount) render farm (For the 3D stuff). Think I’ll model an onion and add turntable animation just to sow confusion.
evap
I went with AT&T so I can get a GMS phone, and I got an unlimited data plan back when you could do that. I’m more or less stuck with AT&T because I get unlimited data as long as I keep renewing my contract.
I travel to Ireland every summer and can get a SIM card for free, put 20 euros on it, pop it into my iphone and then get unlimited data for a month. Why can’t we get deals like that in the U.S.?
Roger Moore
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
No, no. The onion needs a pendulum animation, since it’s supposed to be hanging from your belt, which was the style at the time.
jehrler
@Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal mistermix:
Tethering is included for free only up to 500MB (for base plan or unlimited plan) plus the extra GB you purchase (i.e. if you buy an extra 2GB you get 2.5 GB of tethering capability).
If you want the unlimited plan plus extra tethering I have heard that it is an extra $10 per 2GB of tethered data but haven’t been able to confirm that on T-Mo’s site.
The Fat Kate Middleton
So much useful information here – and it couldn’t come at a better time for me. Spouse and I are a month away from the end of our contract, and have finally decided to go with smart phones. The only problem is how hard on our phones we are – dropping in dishwater, running over them with the riding mower, etc., etc., so thanks, too, for the Otter Box tip. T-Mobile’s new way of doing things sounds just right.
The Fat Kate Middleton
So much useful information here – and it couldn’t come at a better time for me. Spouse and I are a month away from the end of our contract, and have finally decided to go with smart phones. The only problem is how hard on our phones we are – dropping in dishwater, running over them with the riding mower, etc., etc., so thanks, too, for the Otter Box tip. T-Mobile’s new way of doing things sounds just right.
TooManyJens
@Hoodie:
What the hell else am I going to be doing on an elevator? Awkwardly trying not to make too much eye contact with the strangers packed into a small space with me?
Amir Khalid
@Southern Beale:
Um, that’s actually not the passive voice. The gun-related bits you’ve bolded are actually in the active voice.
For this particular phrase to be in the passive voice, it would have to go “the weapon was accidentally fired”. Note the essential elements of the passive voice: the conjugated form of the auxiliary “to be” and the past participle of the main verb “to fire”.
The real linguistic atrocity here is in saying that “the weapon … fired”, as though guns did that all by themselves without intentional or negligent human action.
Sorry to go all English teacher on you.
Big R
@different-church-lady: Google Voice.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Roger Moore:
Good point!
Culture of Truth
“a prepaid $30 plan with a Nexus 4, which is a top-of-the-line smartphone for $300, is an incredible bargain.”
This is what I’ve talking about for a while. No other deal makes a lick of sense.
The only reason I’m not on it now is because it took so darn long to order the phone I thought I might wait a little more and see if another google phone comes out soon.
Mnemosyne
I will tout my Virgin Mobile iPhone again — when I got it over a year ago, I had to pay full freight for the actual phone (which was about $649 at the time) but I pay $30 a month for unlimited texting, unlimited data (though they just announced they can throttle my data if I use too much) and 300 anytime minutes. Virgin runs on the Sprint network, so if you have Sprint coverage, you’ll be able to use Virgin.
They also have many reasonably-priced options for Android phones if you don’t want to join the Apple borg.
James K. Polk, Esq.
Dude, how can you not mention StraightTalk?
They run off either AT&T or T-Mobile’s network (you choose which one).
$45 / month. No contract. Unlimited talk/text/web.
My advice is to make sure that you buy a phone with “pentaband” (supports all five 3G GSM frequencies), and you can switch carriers whenever you want or take your phone with you traveling. There are a few phones that do this, the best value being a Nexus 4.
Xecky Gilchrist
@Omnes Omnibus: Technology changes things. You can either accept it or tie an onion to your belt.
Indeed. It wasn’t all that long ago that the pre-GenX set were sneering about computers being useless frippery. (There’s a really iconic Doonesbury strip about this I haven’t been able to unearth, but I’ll keep looking.)
Mnemosyne
@Amir Khalid:
I think you and SB are talking about two different things. She’s pointing out that the news stories are talking about guns as though they fired themselves when they don’t have that ability since they’re inanimate objects. I don’t think she means the stories are written in the passive voice, but that they’re written as though no human agency was required to fire the gun, it just magically fired itself.
Kristine
Agreed–this post comes at a great time, Still using my ancient dumb Razr–$100/yr AT&T Pay as I go with rollover of unused minutes from the previous year. So cheap, which is why I hate the idea of switching. But all my friends have smartphones–it takes me 10 minutes to type a short reply to one of their texts, and if we’re all in the same place at the same time–say, a hotel during a convention– I miss messages b/c they text instead of email or, you know, talk on their phones.
Anyway, can anyone speak to T-Mobile quality in 1) the Chicago area, including northern ‘burbs, and 2) Portland OR?
Culture of Truth
Every once in a while I stop in a t-mobile store and find out what’s going on. Until recently their plans were hopelessly confusing and too expensive. I’m no fan of the others, but we shall see if they can make it work.
Amir Khalid
@Mnemosyne:
I know what Southern Beale’s getting at, and I agree with her on that point. However, she has misidentified the active voice as the passive in all the examples she cited. It’s a surprisingly common mistake, according to the Language Log website, and in this case it distracts from a good point.
MazeDancer
Another T-Mobile prepaid user because of never using phone unless traveling from no-reception country location. Stopped paying 40 bucks a month for no usage.
When ancient phone died after 5 years, on next trip, walked into T-Mobile near Penn Station. Very nice sales person showed me the cheapest phone that uses wi-fi. 120 bucks. With more free minutes good for 12 months than I use all year as bonus. Walked out with new phone, with new sim card, all data transferred, and no need to buy minutes this year. Pleasant and easy.
It’s interesting how there are two polar opposite markets: Constant users and Emergency/Travel only users. Think there are lot of “almost never use it” people who don’t realize there is such a cheap way to do that. Plus you get a wifi phone that’s like having another teeny tablet around the house.
Roger Moore
@Amir Khalid:
I’m inclined to agree with Amir here. SB is correct that the media is denying human agency in these cases, but they’re doing it by making the gun active rather than truly using the passive voice. Shorter: guns do kill people when we don’t admit that accidents are people’s fault.
chopper
@Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal mistermix:
yes, if you use ‘towers’ as shorthand for ‘infrastructure’. modern antenna systems can get a hell of a lot out of one base station, and a modern steerable array is as good as two old-fashioned fixed systems if you ask me.
the biggest issue is of course data. voice signals have always been easy to carry, especially when adding predictive coding. TDM systems could do a passable job even allocating a minimum number of slots and even with drops. but data is a whole other beast.
different-church-lady
@TooManyJens:
I enjoy studying the architecture. You know, compare and contrast the ornate design of the early 20th century with the bland factory functionality of the latter part of the same, sometimes trying to guess the date of manufacture, and whether the interior has been overhauled, or if the button panel has been replaced with a different vintage, the choice of flooring material (tile mosaic? faux granite? wood?)…
Jay in Oregon
I’ve been a pretty happy customer of T-Mobile for about 7 years. Of course, I live on the West Coast so I guess that puts me in the sweet spot for their coverage. I’ve noticed a couple of dead spots but they’re on the highway so I cruise through in a minute or two and rarely drop calls.
We went with T-Mobile because almost everyone we knew had T-Mobile and at the time, in-network calling was free. So that was a no-brainer.
We’ve got the unlimited talk & text with 2GB of 4G data; after that, it gets throttled. However, where I live has no 4G coverage, so I only use 4G when I’m closer to Portland. And at home I can be on WiFi.
I’m very interested in the iPhone on T-Mobile. I have an HTC One S right now that I’ve paid off; it’s only about 6 months old so I can probably sell it and get a decent chunk back to pay for an iPhone. But I’m willing to wait a month or two to see how it shakes out in real-world use. I’ll also have to compare the iPhone plan with what I’ve got now.
different-church-lady
@Big R: Having taken a quick look at Google Voice, I think I was unclear in my description of what I’m trying to do. Which is actually reasonably simple to describe (so why I didn’t do it that way in the first place I dunno…)
What I’m thinking is that someone sends text to my mobile phone number and it shows up on the tablet.
The idea is simple, the reason is stupid: I work with a lot of different directors or producers and I get connected to them at the last minute. Sometimes nobody knows who’s on the crew until the “call sheet” goes out the night before. All of these people apparently have the $100 a month it takes to have smartphones. (I wind up feeling like a hick.) My dumb phone costs me less that $10 bucks a month (I will not bore you with how I manage that trick…)
I’m sure it would be easy to get a dedicated number or address for texts, but I know that none of the directors or producers will grock that — in their harried haste they will all just automatically assume my mobile number is my text number, and will not even glance at alternate information should I even be able to get the production coordinator to put it on the call sheet. (Hell, I can’t even get these morons to list my cell number instead of my land line 90% of the time…)
I do understand there’s nothing going on here that simply having the money for a smartphone wouldn’t solve. So if Google can solve that for me, I’ll all ears.
The Other Chuck
@different-church-lady: I have entered the elevators in my building at least three thousand times by now. The architecture wasn’t interesting then, it sure ain’t now.
The Other Chuck
@different-church-lady:
Google voice will do exactly that. It’ll also transcribe voicemail to text where you can read it on your tablet. The transcription is sometimes hilariously inaccurate, but I usually get the gist.
Jay S
@different-church-lady: Google voice can port some mobile phone numbers to their plan and voice mail transcripts get sent to the registered email address. I believe text messages do as well. The big issue is whether your number is portable. My Tmobile pay as you go number isn’t (it’s the pay as little as $10 a year plan with minimal usage others have described)
Without porting your number, you still can transfer a new Google voice number to your cell and have access to voice mail via a tablet or PC. It might serve your needs, but you have to give out your new phone number. Either way you can access your voice mail through their web page.
And then there is the issue of Google voice staying alive in the future without a clear revenue model.
ETA not porting can be confusing to people, since your “old” number still works.
Jay S
To clarify, Google voice can only access its voice mail, if you don’t port your number you have two voice mail accounts, one tied to your old number and one with the Google voice number. You will only gain online access from Google for messages left on their number. So you have to convince people to use you new number to get all the benefits of Google voice. If you can port your number this won’t be a problem.
Rorgg
I jumped from AT&T to T-Mo at the end of last year, when the contract on my iPhone 4 was up. Yeah, the network’s not quite as good, especially near home (I live about 60 miles outside Chicago) but as I move closer in toward the city itself, like, where I work (currently for a competing carrier — ha!) it gets better. In any case, it’s still been a worthwhile move, as
1. It costs a little under half what I was shelling out to big blue, and
2. I don’t have to deal with AT&T’s monthly “you’re using too much data!” bitching texts, as I was on THE UNLIMITED DATA plan.
At that cost, I may consider bumping up to an iPhone 5 soonish.
RareSanity
@James K. Polk, Esq.:
This may be nitpicking to some, but the trade-off for accessing either network through Straight Talk, is that the network traffic is prioritized to favor their (AT&T and T-Mobile) customers.
What that translates to, basically, is that your data speeds will be consistently slower than a customer of AT&T or T-Mobile, and Straight Talk is also notorious for flagging people as “heavy” data users, and throttling them even further.
They even say that you should not use your service to stream video:
(Source)
If you plan to stream anything, at any point in time, you are taking a huge risk going with Straight Talk.
RareSanity
@Jay S:
Not true.
If you are not using a prepaid service, you can set Google Voice to handle the voicemail for your normal cell number, instead of the carrier’s voicemail system.
Meaning if I have Google Voice, once I add my cell number (which would be different than my Google Voice number) to my Google Voice account, the website will ask me if I want Google Voice to handle the voicemail for that phone.
So if someone calls my T-Mobile number (not the Google Voice number) and I don’t answer the phone (or I “reject” it, sending it to voicemail), it does not go to T-Mobile’s voicemail system, it goes to Google’s voicemail system.
So my voicemail gets handled by Google Voice whether someone calls my Google Voice number, or my T-Mobile number.
It won’t work with prepaid accounts because the services for “forward on no answer”, and “forward on busy”, cannot be changed by the carrier. Don’t know why that is, but it is.
Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal mistermix
@James K. Polk, Esq.: StraightTalk will no longer sell you an AT&T SIM so it’s essentially a T-Mobile MVNO, like Solavei.
Pamoya
I’ve been considering switching to a smart phone. Like others here, I’m currently using a dumb phone on a pre-paid plan and spending about $10 a month. I don’t want a contract, and I hate the idea of spending more than $50 a month on a phone plan. So buying a nexus 4 for $300 and then getting the $30/month prepaid plan referenced in the post sounds awesome.
What do I need to ask to figure out if this will work in my area? I’m in St. Paul.
Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal mistermix
@chopper: May be true in theory, when you look at the fact of the T-Mob coverage map there’s a lot of 2G in the boonies. Even if the new antennas are so awesome (and come on, 2x better, really?) they’re not investing in deploying them.
Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal mistermix
@Pamoya: Just look at a T-mobile prepaid coverage map, and plug in your address.
http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-coverage
If coverage looks good, you need to buy a Micro SIM from T-Mobile direct, buy the phone from Google, and then activate it for the $30/month plan.
Here’s a very nerdy guide with too much information, but you can skip the parts you aren’t interested in:
http://www.reddit.com/r/nexus4/comments/17jbwj/for_the_new_wave_of_n4_owners_my_guide_to_the#link
The only reason I’m not doing this is that T-Mobile reception in my suburb is spotty, and I’m still on a Verizon plan.
Jay S
@RareSanity: Thanks, I was incomplete in what I said. It is still true that you have to have a plan that allows transferring to Google voice mail.
I see also that porting the number cancels your current phone plan and forces you to start a new plan, so you may not be able to keep a grandfathered low rate plan. I’m not sure now that my number wouldn’t port, but it definitely won’t do a transfer on no answer.
Dave
I just took a look at Republic Wireless, $19/ mo or $29/mo unlimited talk/text/data, the only problem is they only offer one phone now. The difference in the pricing depends on what you pay for the phone. pay 249 and get service for $19/mo pay $99 and get service for $29/mo. They operate on the sprint network and roam on verizon but switch to operate on wifi where available. I think I’m going to give it a try, they offer 30 day money back so it’s semi-painless.
Jamey
Had T-Mo, pay-as-you-go.
It was perfect for my needs. “Upgraded” to Virgin to get an Android phone: $25/month. The service is miserable–I cannot get a signal most places in my home; coverage is spotty, even with a five-bar signal…
May bring my GF’s old iPhone 4s back to T-Mo. For roughly the same coin, 100 min/month is way more than I need, as I mostly text and email. Still looking for the catch.
kzoostout
I’ve been using T-mobile’s pay as you go for 5 or 6 years now and it’s saved me a ton of money.
I also bought Google’s Nexus 4 when it came out. It is awesome and you won’t find another phone that can rival its value proposition.
I don’t talk on the phone much. All of my texting is done using the Google Voice app. The only drawback is that since the texts go through data, you will only get them when you are connected to wi-fi. Once you set up a Google voice number you can buy a little box from a company called Obihai and get free incoming and outgoing VOIP calls to your home (no 911, though). It’s free as long as Google voice is free (which is at least through Dec. 2013). I bought the Obihai 100 on sale for $30 from newegg.com.
I do miss having a data plan once or twice a month, but 99% of the time I’m either connected to wi-fi (work, home, friend’s house) or I’m out with somebody who has a data plan an can settle an argument at the bar or whatever. I’ll switch over to the pay by the day plan if I ever feel the need for a data plan (e.g. traveling to an unfamiliar city).
Last year I spent less than $100 on my phone bill. Any shortcomings associated with T-mobile are well worth the savings IMHO.
Anne Laurie
Another “Seriously, thank you, MisterMix!” for your collection. Spousal Unit & I have been happy with our T-Mobile dumbphones — we don’t text, and I’ve never even figured out the camera function on mine — but he’s dropped his flip-phone so often it’s being held together with a hair elastic. Your review may be enough to persuade him to upgrade to a new phone before there’s a catastrophic failure of his electronic tether… especially if he can find one he likes that works with an Otterbox.
The Dude Abides
Here in California, both AT&T and T-Mo have recently started to accelerate their coverage, both by building new sites and by upgrading existing ones. What’s amazing is that in the area around Downtown LA and to the west toward Westwood, T-Mo’s construction team has said that they need to have one site per 1/4-mile radius to attain optimum coverage. The scope of environmental reports needed to get a site up and running is truly extensive.
fuckwit
Wait. How the hell can they tell whether you’re tethering or not? How can they possibly regulate how much data you’re using for tethering or not?
Data is data, IP packets are IP packets.
An Android phone is a Linux router, just like yer Linksys at home, it even uses iptables. “Tethering” is just NAT routing.
I would love for someone who works for one of these behemoths to tell me how exactly they can even KNOW you’re tethering, let alone count up data that is tethered vs. untethered.
grumpie
Have you checked out go smart mobile. T mobile offshoot that offers no micro Sims and warnings of limited function….micro appears to be a marketing stunt to extract money from customers.
pokmark
@sharl: if your looking for value stay away from phones using micro Sim format. Carriers are using micro to drive customers to top tier plans.
mistermix
@pokmark: You can buy a $4 cutter on EBay to cut a regular SIM to a micro SIM. And T-Mob will sell you either for 99 cents or free, depending on what promo is happening. So I don’t see where size makes a difference, at least in this case.
pokmark
@mistermix: thanks for the insight mistermix. I could buy a Sim cutter and enjoy “limited functionality” with go smart mobile…but why am I having to do that.
logical thinker
Okay, so I just don’t get it here… T-Mobile is simply “Re-Marketing” their services…
They’ll sell you a phone for full price, and the deposit amount is oddly the same as every other carriers out-the-door price. Then they’ll take $10-$20 extra a month for the phone on your bill..
They’re plans are now a little cheaper, because their not adding the cost of the phone into it.. But that’s just hijinx…
If you look at the total monthly bill, after your factor in the $20 (or $10 for a cheap phone) extra on the monthly bill, your right around where you’d be anywhere else (sans verizon, their thieves).
If you cancel service after say 14 months, your still left holding the bag for the phone before ‘being free’.. It’s funny, but the amount you would owe is the same as say Sprint with their ETF.. The only way you beat Sprints system with T-Mobile, is if you cancel with 4 or less months remaining..
How on earth is that “We’re saving you money”??
The only way you could beat the system is to already have an unlocked GSM phone, mind you it’d have to be on the supported list…
I’m glad T-Mobile got one over on AT&T, but their all still wolves in sheeps clothing… The day a real sheep appears with wolves to back it up, then I’ll be impressed…
eor